


Bundle, Cradle, Cuddle

by HogwartsToAlexandria



Series: Marie Ships it All Shorts 2020 [4]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Caretaking, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Married Couple, Protective Thor (Marvel), Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:22:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22293274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/pseuds/HogwartsToAlexandria
Summary: He'll cradle his hurt, until he can blow it away, for such is Thor's love, and Stephen’s bravery.
Relationships: Stephen Strange/Thor
Series: Marie Ships it All Shorts 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1649596
Comments: 4
Kudos: 60
Collections: MCU Space Ships 2019





	Bundle, Cradle, Cuddle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [StrangerInAStrangeLand](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangerInAStrangeLand/gifts).



> You wanted whump Stephen so I did my best! Hope you'll enjoy it!

When the dust settles, when the monsters are down and the superheroes catch their breaths, Thor is still on high alert. His eyes are looking to the side and back, one corner of one street to one shard of a broken window, a tolled car, a street post on the ground. He searches, he saw him fall he knows he did. 

Thor looks, grabs mountains of damaged city property and throws them to the side, eyes wide and heart still beating just as fast as when he was throwing lightning minutes ago. 

"STEPHEN!" he bellows, not paying attention to the others' as they look up frowning. 

He trains his ear to listen, searching a singular noise, something that will tell him where to look. And that's when he sees them, little sparks of orange magic, right behind yet another wrecked cab. He walks, faster and faster, runs even, until he's there and he can push the few things that have landed on his husband. Nothing heavy fortunately. 

He pushes everything away, crouching to get a better look at him. 

"Hey there," Thor says, his voice soft as he takes in the barely conscious state of the man. 

"M'fine," Stephen mumbles.

"No, you are clearly not." Thor almost laughs, almost, the look of Stephen's arm, crooked at the elbow at an unnatural angle cuts the impulse right off. 

Stephen's lashes flutter as he tries to open his eyes, the shoulder he's resting on jerks as he tries to move and Thor hisses.

"Don't move, don't. Don't do anything." He settles Stephen with a brush of his fingers down his neck. "I'm taking care of you now, you don't do anything." 

Thor ponders the way he's going to get him out of here, frowning in sympathy pain when he sees the way Stephen's breathing weakly, trying as much as possible not to move his arm. That's when Wanda comes into Thor's line of sight. 

"Hey! Can you help?" He shouts for her. 

It takes her a second to realize he's talking to her, and then one more to make her hurried way to them once she sees the state her teacher is in. 

"God, is he alright?"

"He's going to be, but his arm is all…" Thor waves to it vaguely, his other hand still caressing Stephen's face softly. "Can you fix it? Or make sure it floats and doesn't hit his body while I carry him?" 

"No to the fixing, yes to the floating. I can halo his arm and call Wong to join you back at the compound?" Wanda says, her features set in concentration, her voice quiet. Thor's always liked that about her, her readiness for action. 

"Let's do that then, please." 

She nods, "Hold his face between your hands?" 

Thor nods back, going to his knees by Stephen's head, cradling his husband's face in his palms, his thumbs rubbing warmth into his cheeks. Stephen's eyes blink open warily. 

"Shh, it's okay," he whispers, watching Wanda's complicated red signals out of the corner of his eye. He gives Stephen a small tilt of a smile. There's blood at his temple and his lips are chapped all over but other than his arm, nothing looks too off. He'll probably be bruised as hell with the way he fell down, magic letting him go as the Cloak was too far away fighting villains themselves to catch him on time but he'll be okay. 

Wanda hums then, there's a red halo, just like she said, around Stephen's arm, cushioning it the way it's angled and away from his chest. 

"I scanned him, he doesn't seem to be internally injured. You can move him now. I'll call Wong."

"Thank you, Scarlet Wanda." Thor gives her a smile. She only nods back and backs away to give him space to get up. 

Thor's careful in the way he grabs Stephen, slithering an arm under his shoulders and another under his thighs, bringing him to his chest, making a nest of it and his neck for Stephen’s practically unconscious form and his face to rest, safe. Thor's seen Stephen in bad shape before, he's seen him sick, and overworked, and quietly terrified of yet another interdimensional creature, but the weak, broken noises he makes with every step Thor takes wreck him. He tries not to stare at Stephen's face too much, instead watching where he's going and trying to spot a functioning SHIELD car that will be able to bring them back home to the compound quickly, and that's when he finally sees the Cloak flying weakly towards them. It's covered in dust and what looks like some of the goo of the aliens they'd all been busy fighting off for the better part of the day, all until Carol, Wanda and Stephen united forces to blast them into oblivion, at their own risks and costs. 

Wanda looks more shaken than hurt, and Carol looks spotless now that Thor sees her - sitting on the ground near Tony and Rhodey - but Stephen's fall was all but controlled and he's still moaning in pain even with the help of his student's magic helping keep his arm cushioned from gravity. 

"We're getting home, beloved, you'll be ok." Thor whispers in Stephen's hair when he moves him so they can get into the back of the minivan he's signaled, more an apology than anything else as it means bumping and rearranging the man around and Stephen's face says what he can't - it's painful. 

If he was fully conscious, Stephen would scoff, crack a joke or a sneer at the tender reassurances. He'd still curl up to Thor's side though. So Thor figures, this is one case he's allowed a little more schmoopy talk than is usual between them. 

He watches Stephen's face, very careful to not let him sway too much when the car swerves on the streets, most certainly to avoid the wreckage that must loiter them. At one point, the man's eyes open completely, a little clearer than before, a little more blue and lucidity showing as he looks from side to side before looking back into Thor's eyes. 

"Home?" Is all he says. 

Thor nods, the thumb of the hand he's cradling his husband's head with caressing the man's protruding cheekbone. 

"Home. Really soon." 

He didn't lie. They arrive within five more minutes, and Thor repeats the process of slowly carrying Stephen out of the car and then walking faster over the grounds of the compound and into the building. Thor hesitates in the common room, but eventually decides Stephen deserves to not have all the others around him when he rests and they come back, so he keeps going until they're back in their quarters. 

He deposits Stephen on their large couch as gently as he possibly can, and his heart soars at the way Stephen reflexively reaches for him when Thor's arms leave him as a result. The pained groan that escapes him because of it definitely doesn't allow him to expand on those soft feelings though. Thor straightens up, skidding fingers over Stephen's hip as he calls to the ceiling - he knows it's silly, but he still cannot help it, "Lady FRIDAY?" 

"Point Break?"

Thor gives a little smile at that, "Did Scarlet Wanda manage to contact Wong?" 

"Yes, she did, he's only waiting for your go." The A.I. answered, her voice at a lower volume and pitch than usual so as to accommodate Stephen's difficult resting state. 

Thor smiled. "Then you can tell him we are ready for him." 

Her answer comes in the form of the orange sparks Thor knows so well, and then turn and swirl forming a bigger and bigger circle within seconds, until Wong's familiar face appears and the man steps out of it and into the room. He waves behind him and the portal is gone. 

"Odinson." The man nods solemnly, and instead of answering, Thor does what he knows Wong is fonder of - he nods and gets out of the way, not too far, not far enough that he can't see Stephen’s face, but giving Wong the distance he needs to work on him anyway. 

The following minutes are filled with complicated hand movements and whispers in a language even Thor's Asgardian education didn't teach him. He sits with his backside barely on the couch, his fingers stapled together under his chin, his worried eyes fixed on Stephen's pale face. It doesn't take much longer for Wong to turn back to Thor, his face as impassive as is most usual.

"His arm will be fine. He's got bruises I can't do much more about but he'll be fine in a week or so. I'll be at the sanctum guarding his duties." He says.

Thor stands up, nodding, with his hands clasping together. "Thank you, dear Wong." He feels like hugging the man, but he's learned that's not his favorite thing so he stays put. 

Wong gives a short jerk of his chin before conjuring another portal, and then he's gone. 

Stephen stirs on the cushions, his arm no longer haloed in red and back to its normal angle where it lays lax on his waist. 

"Thor?" His voice is faint, his eyes blinking open groggily. 

"Right here, beloved." Thor sits on the edge of the couch, gingerly reaching out for Stephen's hand, even more careful than he usually is as he traces his knuckles with his thumb. "How do you feel?" 

"Gross." Stephen coughs, his eyes not quite alight with their usual brilliance but better still than they were earlier. 

"Bath then?" 

Stephen hums in assent. 

"I'll be right back."

This is more of a routine thing they have going, one of the few things Stephen accepted less begrudgingly because of the traditional weight taking care of one's partner this way holds for Thor. He enjoys it now, Thor is sure, even if he wouldn't say it outright. It's fine too. There's many things Thor doesn't need Stephen to say to know. It's just who he is. Quiet in all things too close to vulnerability, rash in all things too close to wounding his pride. Thor can relate. 

He gets the water running at an acceptable temperature, scalding hot, just like Stephen likes it and waits until it's filled the tub enough for them both to get in without flooding the room before he gets back to his husband. Stephen is half-asleep and Thor can't help staring at him for a moment. 

He knew, the first time he saw him, how well they'd fit together. Thor was used to looking beyond the first layer of meaning out of a man's words. Midgardians were like that, saying one thing and meaning another. Stephen was no exception. And so Thor had courted him, the proper way he'd been taught by Frigga. And so Stephen's mask had cracked and what a great victory it is, that they are now married going on three years and Thor's still learning the ways of this man who fascinates him as much as he consumes him, that every day Stephen lets him in a little more. A thing of beauty really. 

"Alright," Thor whispers as he crouches by the couch on Stephen's side and slides both his arms under him. "Up we go." He says, breathing in Stephen's hair. 

Stephen's body is completely lax in his hold, the only sign that he isn't completely passed out the way he immediately tucks his face in the crook of Thor's neck. The sorcerer usually snaps his clothes off magically, to Thor's great protests, but he can't right now, so Thor sits him down on the sink counter. 

"Wake up a bit dove, wouldn't want you falling, would we?" Thor brushes a hand from Stephen's cheeks to his hair, smiling softly at the way Stephen tries to keep his eyes open, humming. 

It's slow, the way Thor takes off Stephen's robes, layers upon layers of fabric guarding the body of the man he loves. The arm bands and gloves come off first, then the outer robes, and Stephen's boots, and then he's left in his under garments, thin gray tunic and underwear and Thor holds him up to stand as he pushes and pulls those off too. 

"There we go." He breathes, taking in the sight of Stephen’s battered body with both awe and horror, the warrior and lover inside him battling for ascendancy. 

He makes quick work of his own armor and clothes, trying to keep a hand on Stephen's waist as much as he can during so he doesn't slip. 

"Let's get in," Thor fits his hands in Stephen's armpits, half lifting him, half guiding him into the steaming tub. 

Thank the heavens for Tony Stark and his perfectly fitted appliances, the tub is exactly the size needed to accommodate both Stephen's long-limbed body and Thor's more massive build easily and comfortably. They sit, like muscle-memory coming to play, as they always do, with Thor guiding Stephen backwards to lean against his chest, his head wedged between Thor's neck and shoulder. 

The water flaps as they sink in it, peaceful like they rarely get to be outside these walls. Thor runs his fingers along Stephen's arms, mostly clean for they were protected by the robes, and Stephen sighs deeply against him.

No matter the battles, and the wounds that follow, no matter the distance, from one planet to another, to this dimension to the Dark one, this is where they reunite, always. Thor kisses the top of Stephen's head when he feels him slipping into sleep all against him, finally drained of tension and energy alike, and he breathes in the scent of them together like this, thinking about the plans he's been making to have Stephen agree to a proper Asgardian wedding soon, and smiling when the man whispers his name in dream. 

It's peaceful now, and isn't that a luxury. Thor lets himself rest his own head on the edge of the tub, and closes his eyes too.

  
  
  



End file.
